The head coach of the Russian national football team, Dick Advocaat, managed to lead the team to the final of the 2012 European Football Championship. Nevertheless, he did not renew the contract with the RFU and announced that he would leave his post immediately after the European championship.
Dick Advocaat is well known to Russian fans as a coach of Zenit St. Petersburg, he worked in this position from 2006 to 2009. In May 2010, he headed the Russian national team, after a rather difficult qualifying tournament, the Russian team was able to advance to the final part of the European Football Championship. It was a clear success, but the Dutch coach announced that he would leave his post immediately after the end of the European derby.
His decision came as a surprise to both the fans of the Russian national team and the officials of the Russian Football Union. It would seem that after successfully passing the qualifying round of the main championship of Europe, Dick Advocaat could permanently gain a foothold in the post of coach of the Russian national team, work on its entry into the finals of the 2014 World Cup. And the salary that he receives as a mentor of the Russian national team is more than impressive, finding the same in another place can be quite problematic. However, the Dutch coach did not renew the contract and announced his retirement unequivocally. This means that the reason for leaving has nothing to do with money. Then with what?
Remember how his predecessor Guus Hiddink went as coach of the Russian national team. Under his leadership, the national team performed brilliantly at the 2008 European Championship, entering the top four teams and showing the best results over the past twenty years. In the wake of this success, the Dutch specialist began to prepare the Russian national team for the 2010 World Cup, but he failed to bring it to the final stage. After that, Guus Hiddink was dismissed, replaced by Dick Advocaat. Despite the brilliant performance of our team in 2008, many fans remembered its failure to qualify for the World Cup, and Hiddink left his post not on the wave of success and fame, but after an unfortunate failure. The history of sports knows many examples when a successful athlete or coach, without leaving at the zenith of fame, later quite ingloriously left the sport or the coaching post. A simple conclusion follows from this - you need to be able to leave on time. And if for an athlete, retirement from sports, in fact, means the end of a career, for a coach, the transition to another job provides new opportunities for professional growth.
That is why Dick Advocaat's decision is completely understandable and completely justified. He has already achieved a lot, leading the Russian team to the final of the 2012 European Championship. Before the start of the championship, the Russian team played several friendly matches under the leadership of Advocaat, defeating, in particular, the Italian national team with a score of 3: 0. If the Russian national team performs successfully in the championship, its coach will leave his post as the winner, and many tempting offers will surely await him. On the other hand, by remaining in office, he may repeat the mistake of Guus Hiddink, which will negatively affect his career. Finally, it is simply more interesting for a coach to work with a new team than to train practically the same players again, preparing them for a new championship.
